In 1927, the Holland Tunnel was opened under the Hudson River, linking New York City and New Jersey.

In 1933, the first recorded "sit-down" strike in the United States was staged by workers at the Hormel Packing Co. in Austin, Minn.

In 1947, development of the AK-47 is completed by the Soviet Union. Between 70 and 100 million of these assault rifles have been produced since then.

In 1956, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the federal district court's ruling in Browder v. Gayle (1956) that segregation on interstate buses was unconstitutional. They would issue their decision in December with the Montgomery Bus Boycott ending quickly thereafter.

In 1967, Carl Stokes became the first black U.S. mayor when he was elected in Cleveland.

In 1970, more than 500,000 people died in a single night as the Bhola cyclone devastated the Ganges Delta region in what is now Bangladesh.

In 1982, thousands of veterans of the Vietnam War march on Washington, D.C., to attend the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

In 1985, the Nevado del Ruiz volcano erupted in Colombia, killing 25,000 people. It was one of the deadliest volcanic eruptions in history.

In 2004, an Iraqi national security adviser said up to 1,000 insurgents were killed in a six-day battle for Fallujah.

In 2010, the military government of Myanmar, formerly Burma, released pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest. The leader of the National League for Democracy, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, had spent 15 of the past 21 years confined to her home.

In 2011, Mario Monti, an economist and former EU commissioner, was picked to succeed Silvio Berlusconi as Italy's prime minister. Berlusconi, 75, resigned after Parliament passed austerity measures to address the country's $2.6 trillion debt. (Monti was PM until April 2013.)

In 2013, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported that 106,185 people had chosen health plans in the new Affordable Care Act marketplace through October, about 20 percent of the number expected. The new health system had been plagued by problems with its federal website since it opened Oct. 1.

In 2015, a series of coordinated terrorist attacks across the French capital of Paris claimed the lives of 130 people and left 368 others injured.

A thought for the day: "The soldier above all others prays for peace, for it is the soldier who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war." -- Gen. Douglas MacArthur